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State House Agriculture Committee is Holding a Hearing Tuesday Afternoon
Actions by the administration in Washington, D.C. — such as funding freezes and a tariff-driven trade war — are already causing hardship for farmers across the country and a ripple effect that could raise prices and possibly cause shortages for consumers.
Local Food Forum in recent days has highlighted the egregious hold on funding for IL-EATS, a program that helps small farmers and people facing food insecurity; if anything is the opposite of government waste, it is this.
In an abrupt and unexpected decision, the administration is refusing to provide reimbursements to farmers, chosen for the program by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, who laid out considerable amounts of money to grow food for the needy under a contractual promise that the federal government would reimburse them.
To address this critical situation, the Illinois House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday (March 11) at 2 p.m. central. And the committee is urging farmers and food system leaders to apply to testify at the hearing.
If you are willing and able to testify, click the button below to apply. When you complete the form, you will receive additional instructions about how to sign up to testify at the committee, either in person or virtually, and a Zoom prep session with the Agriculture Committee team on Monday evening at 7 p.m.
The committee also urges farmers and food system leaders to attend in person at the Capitol to show support, even if they do not plan to testify.
Among those organizing participation is Illinois Stewardship Alliance, the leading state policy advocate for the local food and farm community. Local Food Forum thanks the Alliance for bringing this hearing to our attention.
Efforts are also under way to provide a livestream of the event for those of us who can't make it to Springfield for the hearing. We'll provide information about that when it become available.
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